Something seems off
by Rizzy2
Summary: Something seems off about Soul, but Maka cannot figure out what it is. Only when things take a turn for the worse does she finally realize that something is exceedingly wrong with her partner. / A story in which we explore the possible outcome, had the black blood taken a greater toll on Soul. Will they get through this, or will he end up giving in to the madness?
1. Something seems off

**I do not own Soul Eater.**

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 **"Always trust your first gut instincts. If you genuinely feel in your Heart and soul that something is wrong, it usually is."**

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It happened so suddenly, none of us had seen it coming. Soul was fine in the morning, despite looking a bit paler than usual. He ate just fine as well, and he even cracked a joke or two, that sarcastic tone in his voice and a sly smirk as he gulped down his breakfast. Seeing that his hair was a complete mess, I guessed that he had been having another one of those strange nightmares, but I did not ask. It was none of my business after all, though maybe it was. I already knew about the demon after entering Soul's, well, soul. We all knew about the madness surrounding us and it was not a thing we could ignore. Nonetheless, we still managed to goof around with each other, as we always did.

Anyway, the morning went smooth, Blair keeping a distance for once, as she sat on one of the kitchen counters. She was staring at us, looking like someone who eagerly wanted to ask something but did not dare to do so. She almost seemed concerned, but before I could ask her what was wrong, she turned into a cat and jumped out of the nearby window and ran off. That had been an unusual reaction, but rather normal for a cat, so maybe it was not that odd after all. I looked at my partner who simply shrugged, then drank directly from the milk carton, again. He deserved a Maka chop for that one, and I gladly gave it to him, a gentle one that is.

We left the apartment and headed off to school, Soul walking a bit slower. He blamed the moon, something about him not being able to sleep well when it was full, yet I have never seen the moon being full ever. Was he making up excuses? Was it that embarrassing to admit that he was having bad dreams again? Surely, he could tell me, I would put it in a mental box and never open it for anyone else. It would stay a secret.

However, he did not tell me, not even after I hinted at it. Why was it so hard for him to share things with me? I was his Meister, we lived together, and it would be the best for the both of us. After a moment of silence, I found myself smiling. He would talk eventually, and then I would know for sure what was going on inside his mind when we were not in spiritional resonance. Was it the demon causing havoc?

School went as usual, nothing out of the ordinary as we watched Stein dissect yet another innocent animal while teaching us about the heart. It started out as nothing but biology, but then it turned into chemistry, then it went back to Biology. You had to be quick if you wanted to gather notes doing his classes. You also had to be robust as Steins classes were not for the faint hearted. He would show off whatever he dissected, not showing any mercy as he told the students to come and touch the insides of the animal. This time the victim had been a pig, and everyone had to feel the meaty texture. It was a good thing that we were wearing gloves.

That was when I noticed Soul's hand was shaking slightly as he held the heart and squished it. He then handed it to me and I did the same before handing it to Black Star. He laughed and started to play with it, telling Soul to think fast before throwing it at him. Soul easily caught it and threw it back to Black Star. He was about to throw it towards the ceiling when Tsubaki sent him a stern look and a warning. He handed it over to her, mumbling something about her being no fun. Indeed, this was just like any other class.

We had decided to play basketball later that evening, so we ate dinner early. Upon eating, I noticed that his left eye was twitching slightly. Again, I did not think much of it, Soul was eating and talking, and he said he was fine, just having a lot on his mind.

We headed out, both of us wearing a hoodie and I wearing the cap I got a few days ago. I had learned the rules by now, not that anyone taught me, but I read up about it. No way was I going to lose again. We met up with the others, got in position and started the game.

That was when it happened; Soul stopped running. He stood there, starring at nothing as his body began to tremble. We stopped playing, confused as to what was going on with him. At first, we thought that he was trying to scare us, maybe it was some cheap trick to put us off guard, but the trembles got worse and his eyes started twitching, then he fell backwards and onto the ground. Kid had been quick to react and managed to grab his head before impact. We all gathered around him and watched as his mouth hung open, saliva running down his chin in a larger amount than usually. His eyes were partly open, and yet we could not get into contact with him. Black Star even went as far as to shake him, but there was no response.

He was having a seizure, something that had never happened before. He was pale as a ghost, his body jerking violently and hands seized up. He would give out painful yelps, his breathing was fast and you could see veins on his neck as it tensed up. We knew he was far-gone once his eyes started to act up.

Kid was the calmest out of us, so he was the one heading off in full speed to get nurse Naigus, Liz and Patty following while the rest of us stayed with Soul. I took off my hoodie and placed it under his head to keep him from injuring himself by banging his head into the asphalt. We could not hold him down, and to tell the truth, we were not even supposed to do so, but we had never experienced anything like this before. It was completely new, and we thought it made more sense to keep him pinned to the ground.

It was not until his left arm turned into a blade, accidentally cutting Black Star **'** s cheek in the process, that we decided to stop holding onto him and just watch as his body continued to jerk. How long would this continue? It hurt to watch and I feared the worst. Why did I not notice the signs earlier? I should have brought him to the nurse the moment I noticed the trembles, yet I ignored it.

The grownups were by his side a few minutes later, and Stein was quick to turn Soul **'** s head to the side as he coughed up black blood. I heard him mention something about his body trying to reject the blood, or that the blood was rejecting him. I was not even sure that I heard right. Adrenaline was still pumping through my veins as Stein lifted my partner and ran off towards the infirmary, the rest of us following right behind.

And that was how a good day turned into a nightmare.

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 **First thing that I have ever written for Soul Eater. Reviews are highly appreciated.**


	2. Examination

**This was actually supposed to be a one-shot, but seeing that you guys wanted more, I wrote a second chapter.**

 **I do not own Soul Eater.**

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 **"** **Souls tend to go back to who feels like home" - N.R. Hart.**

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I sat on an uncomfortable chair near one of the beds in the dimly lit and sterile smelling infirmary, waiting for him to wake up. Soul had fainted once the seizure had subsided and Stein told me to stay with him in case he needed me there. Not that I would have left his side anyway, he was my partner and I was worried about him. The others had stayed for a while as well, only leaving after nurse Naigus told us that he was stable and not in any danger, but needed rest. That had been a cue for them to leave, yet Black Star had protested, wanting to stay until his best friend and partner in crime woke up, yet had no choice but to leave once Stein pushed him out into the hall. I promised to call them once he was conscious.

His face and body would tense up for a few seconds, then relax, that went on repeat for the most of the evening without any sign of stopping. My hand was red and slightly bruised from his firm grip, but I did not mind, knowing that he drifted in and out and needed a bit of comfort. At least I thought so, and that gave me a bit of comfort as well. They checked his fever every fifteen minutes and it would be either higher or lower each time. He was trying to fight it, the black blood wanted to take over, that much I knew, yet I had no idea whether he would win or lose the fight this time.

Once we passed midnight, the trembles had stopped and his temperature was back to normal. Despite this, he still had to stay there for now. The relief flushed over me, and I found myself nodding off, no longer able to keep my heavy eyelids open. My head only just hit the mattress when someone lifted me up to then place me on a bed near the one my partner was resting on, and once I felt the soft pillow against my cheek and a blanket covering me, I fell asleep.

I woke up only a few hours later to the sound of someone moving, groaning and kicking off a blanket. Upon opening my eyes, I saw Soul sitting up in bed, covered in sweat, looking at me with a confused look on his face.

"You're awake…" I mumbled, stretched and sat up. He did not look away; he just kept staring at me with what looked like worry.

"Maka… What are you doing here? You aren't hurt, are you?" That blew me off guard. He just woke up in the infirmary after dealing with a massive seizure, and yet he asked about me?

"I'm not, don't worry. What about you?" I watched as a faint smirk formed, one that I could not read as fake or real as he used the blanket to wipe at his face.

"I'll say I'm pretty alright, sore maybe. Does anyone know what happened? All I remember is falling on the court like an idiot. I hit my head, didn't I?" Soul asked, now rubbing his neck, but before I could answer, Stein entered with a test tube in his hand. Both of us looked at the dark liquid, then squinted our eyes and groaned when he turned on the lights hanging from the ceiling. I recovered fast while Soul covered his eyes with his arms, asking the professor to turn them off again, but he did not. Instead he frowned and put down the test tube to write something down. Once that was done, he walked over to my partner and removed his arms to look at his eyes, hummed in thought to then go back to the clipboard and wrote some more.

"Bloodshot eyes and sensitivity to light," Stein stated "how strange."

Soul mumbled something about feeling fine and almost stood up, but the professor pushed him back down. He was not fine, him saying so was a blatant lie, one he had used all day. To think that I had believed him, even though I sensed something was off. So had Blair, the way she avoided him in the morning should have been a clear sign. She should have told me though, instead of running off.

They went through a few more examinations before he went back to talking about the test tube. The liquid in it turned out to be Soul's blood, and after running a few tests on it, Stein had concluded that Soul was highly unstable. It was not life threatening, not yet at least.

That was then that I made a promise; I would keep a constant eye on Soul, keep him from using the black blood to our advantage, and if something happened to any of us, I would report it immediately. If he turned out to be the same in two months' time with no sign of him getting better, then we had to end our partnership and Soul would be sent away for good. It was too dangerous otherwise.

After shaking the professor's hand and hereby accepting the newly founded rules, he checked Soul out and allowed him to leave the infirmary. He threw on a hoodie and a pair of jeans, not risking someone seeing him in a clinic pajama.

I took out my phone as we walked down the hall. Instead of calling, I sent an SMS to everyone. Once we got outside, the night sky had turned into a pretty and colorful sunrise. I smiled upon getting messages back and showed them to him, and despite everything, he smiled as well, even laughed at what Black Star wrote back. He took my phone and answered every single one of them, keeping it cool and collected as he invited them over to our apartment to explain things further. When I tried to take my phone back, he chuckled and kept it out of my reach, then ran off towards home with an infectious laughter.

He seemed to be feeling better, yet I did not fail to notice a thin streak of black blood running from his nose.

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 **If you want me to continue this and not end it here, leave a review.**


	3. A tired soul

**An update before the rest of my exams. Seeing that you all want this to continue, I have decided to do so. Thank you so much for the reviews!**

 **I do not own Soul Eater.**

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" **Sleep doesn't help if it's your soul that's tired."**

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My feverish partner was too nonchalant. He was in denial, saying that he was fine and being oblivious to the fact that he was unstable. It was around 06:30 in the morning when we entered our dimly lit apartment, the only light source being the slight sunlight coming from outside the windows. Soul went straight for the couch and let himself fall onto it with a grunt. I watched as he took off the hoodie and threw it on a nearby chair, then threw off his shoes, my phone still in his hand as he did so. I huffed, annoyed that he had decided to keep it even after I caught up with him. He had just laughed even louder and put it in his pocket, saying it was safer with him. Where did he get that idea? I do not trip over my own feet often or break things. I hurried out of my jacket and boots, then ran over and threw myself over the couch to try to grab it, only for him to hold it out of my reach again.

"Oh real mature! Give it back!" I found myself yelling in annoyance. He could be such a jerk at times. I threw myself over him and just about managed to reach it before pulling back with a triumphed laugh. His own smile soon faltered a bit as he leaned back, arms behind his head. I chose that moment to address the black blood running from his nose in a thin stream.

"Oh?" he carefully placed a few fingers under it, surprised to find it wet and sticky. "Huh, I didn't notice. Did it just start or…"

I shook my head "It started on our way back, you ran off before I could say anything, and by the time I got to you, it stopped. However, it looks like it started again. Just, hold a hand over it, I'll find some paper."

He did as told, watching me as I stood up and went to the kitchen to get a few paper towels as well as turn on the lights. He winced and asked me to turn them off, saying that it still made his eyes hurt. He had the same complaint back in the infirmary. I turned them off and made a mental note to get him a pair of sunglasses. Once I was back on the couch, I quickly wiped away the blood before putting pieces of paper into his nostrils.

"You know, you get nosebleeds on a daily basis whenever Blair is around, but this is the first time that it's been black and out of nowhere. Does it not worry you the slightest? What if something happens to you while we're in battle, one of us could get hurt, or worse."

He shrugged and did not answer the question. Instead, he changed topic after a moment of silence as I finished cleaning his face.

"Are we going to class today? You don't seem keen on going."

I copied his body language and shrugged "I'm not feeling a need to go, but we do have that test today... You cheated last time, remember? This is your chance to redeem yourself. Then again, if you feel sick then you better stay home."

He sighed, eyes focused on a dark mark on the living room wall as I pulled out the paper in his nose, seeing that it had stopped bleeding. Soul had made that mark by accident back when we had a black table. He scraped the wall with it and some of the paint came off. We have considered repainting the living area. "I don't know, I don't feel like going, got this slight headache that won't go away. If you want to go then that's cool, I ain't stopping you."

I was about to tell him that I would rather stay by his side when the doorbell rang, making both of us jump in surprise. Right, we had invited the others over for breakfast to tell them what had caused the seizure last night.

I hurried to my feet, threw out the paper in the trash bin under the sink and opened the door. They came in one big group, and I found myself regretting that I had not started on the meal that we promised, seeing that school would start in about an hour and a half. Luckily, Tsubaki offered to help me make some pancakes while the rest of them went to the living room to ask Soul if he was doing okay. A part of me did not wish to tell our friends about his condition, they might start treating him differently if they found out, like the way I avoided him when I saw the stitches on his chest after the fight against Crona. I know that what I felt back then had been guilt, but what if the others would feel guilty as well? Sympathy towards him? Or even fear? Would they see this as a weakness? Yet there was no point in hiding something that could potentially put everyone in danger.

Kid pulled me out of my own thoughts by complaining about the place being too dark. He was about to turn on the lights when I swatted his hand away with a warning. He looked at me as if I was crazy before heading towards the living area as well, grumbling.

Tsubaki asked what that was about, and once I told her that he was light sensitive, her positive aura went from slightly raised to neutral. To my surprise, it increased a few seconds later. It turned out that BlackStar had a whole drawer full of sunglasses, and upon asking him, he agreed to lend his best friend a pair. "That'll make ya even cooler." The blue haired boy yelled out with his signature laugh before running out, convinced that he could make it home, grab a pair and get back within ten minutes, he was going to surpass god after all.

"Ah, so that is why you did not want me to turn on the lights, I understand now, yet would it not be better to let your eyes get used to the light? I am sure that is possible." Kid questioned to which Soul groaned.

"Maybe, but not now, seeing the light gives me a damn migraine."

"Oh! So you are like a vampire now? Do you feed on blood and raw meat?" Patty was the one to ask questions this time, and despite Soul being slightly frustrated, he calmly answered her and everyone else as questions kept coming.

Once BlackStar was back, (surprisingly it took him less than ten minutes) breakfast was done. Everyone took a plate and upon sitting down together, we went on telling the group what we knew. We explained the black blood, how his body was trying to reject it, as well as how the madness was trying to take over. It was like battling a serious infection, and if he got any worse, well, then he might end up accidentally killing himself or getting killed by the authorities. It was hard to tell our friends that we could be dangerous to be around, yet no one moved away to make distance between us.

"If you go mad, then I'll pull ya out of it!" BlackStar promised with a massive grin and a gentle punch to the shoulder, a punch that Soul returned.

"How would you do that?"

"Dunno, maybe if I shake you really hard! Or if I punched you in the-!" Tsubaki cut his sentence short by covering his mouth with her hand, a nervous smile on her face.

"Let us all hope that you will recover." She said and removed her hand, her partner giving her a glare of betrayal.

Once everyone finished eating, we said our goodbyes and watched them leave to go to morning class. We were now alone again and agreed to head off to bed to catch up on the sleep we had missed. Yet, once he reached his door, he did not enter. He just stared at the doorknob with a blank, almost empty expression. I tried to call out his name, but that did not gain his attention.

"Hey, are you okay? What are you waiting for?" I asked as I placed a hand on his shoulder, yet still he did not respond or react. It was as if he entered some sort of trance.

Not knowing what to do, I lifted his arm and wrapped it around my shoulders, then entered his room with him leaning against me like a lifeless doll. We managed to avoid stepping on anything as I walked through the dark room, then upon reaching his bed carefully made him lay down. Deciding that it would be risky to leave him be alone in a paralyzed state, I hurried out to grab my mattress and sheets, then placed them on the floor a few centimeters away from his bed. I would sleep in there, whether he liked it or not.


	4. Fun never hurt anyone

" **I'm trying to keep myself together, to keep myself sane through all of this, but there are moments when I am completely losing my mind."**

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"I still don't think this is a good idea," I stated my worry as we glided through Death City. We woke up a little past noon, both agreeing to get up and get something to eat. To our surprise, the fridge was almost empty after having visitors, and none of us felt like eating crackers. Instead, we ended up going out to eat, as if everything was normal. We needed that, to do something mundane to forget about problems and worries for a short while. Soul, he had been acting normal for the past hour as we ate a sandwich at a small cafe half an hour away from home.

It was not until we headed back towards our apartment that I started to question his behavior.

He had stopped at a shop window, smirking as he waved for me to come and see. He was looking at a pair of rollerblades. "Have you ever tried those?" He asked and I nervously nodded. "Yeah but it was a long time ago, I'm not sure that I remember how to use them."

That was how he ended up buying two pairs of skates and safety equipment. I was barely able to hold my balance as we glided down the street, the headwind making it almost impossible not to fall as we clung to the things closest to us.

"Stop worrying so much Maka, we're just having a bit of fun! Having fun never hurt anyone."

"As a matter of fact, fun is one of the main causes of accide-!" He cut me off halfway through a sentence by grabbing my arm to avoid falling. Since when was his balance worse than mine was?  
"Maka, really, just try and have a bit of fun alright? That's why we're outside in the first place. You can go back to worrying later."

"I thought we went out to eat, not this. You're unstable remember?" I pointed at the sunglasses he was wearing and he frowned. "This isn't safe and you know it."

"It would be cool if you didn't remind me of that every half an hour. If my soul wavelength starts to act up, stop me and we'll head home. Till then, lets race!"

"W-wait, how am I supposed to stop you?" It was too late to get an answer as he drove off as fast as he possibly could without tripping. Where did that sudden balance come from? He could barely stand straight just a minute ago, and now it looked like he had been training for years. That was so uncool of him, and I would be sure to tell him that once I caught up to him. _If_ I caught up.

The wheels underneath my feet forced me to glide instead of running, an unusual sensation that forced me to lean forward ever so slightly. Every bump on the road made me unsteady, and the path he was heading towards had nothing to hold onto, as well as small rocks laying around.

Why was he doing this? I watched as he started to slow down a bit after almost falling head first, which made me gain a bit of speed. I just knew that he would get hurt. He would do the same thing that he did earlier, space out and be impossible to get into contact with no matter what you did.

Back then, I had to contact Stein after twenty minutes of him sta **r** ring intensely at the ceiling, barely even blinking or breathing. The professor was about to cancel his class and come to check on him, when Soul suddenly came back to reality and called out my name, confused as to where he was.

I promised to take my partner back to the infirmary later for a checkup, yet instead of going there as promised, we were here, racing for no apparent reason other than Eater wanting some adrenaline. Was this one of the signs of madness? A sudden spike of energy as well as elevated mood? Maybe he was just happy not to be bedridden. He was able to go outside and do something exciting, at least for now. Rollerblades was not as exciting as a fight, I will admit that, but it was different and not supposed to be dangerous.

Yet a sudden spike in our soul wavelength, one that I had no idea where itcame from, made me fall backwards as a certain albino fell forward, landing on the nearby grass. It felt like someone had pulled us apart, breaking the bond I had created between us to ensure that he did not go haywire. By the time I had collected myself and reached my partner **'** s current location, he was sweating and shaking.

"I told you this was a bad idea. Come on, let's go and see Stein, I promised we would be there before dinner."

"My blood is black, as black as oil." He laughed loudly, a maniacal smile as he looked at his scraped hand covered in dark plasma, the shaking increasing with the laugher.

"I know, I helped stopping your nose bleed earlier, remember? That was black as well. We have known for a while. You really should get up n-ah!"

I found myself jolting back, avoiding his sharp teeth as he bit out after me. Was his behavior due to the strange occurrence that kept me from reaching his soul? In that case, I had to find a way to bring him back.

"Soul, come on, it's me, Maka, your Meister?" It did not work; he was still laughing and now licking his hand. "I swear if you don't snap out of this I am going to Maka chop you so hard!" Nope, no reaction. "Okay then, you give me no choice!"

I lifted a hand, about to do it when he blinked and looked up at me, suddenly coming back to his senses as he covered his head with his arms to avoid the chop. Nice, I just had to threaten him. His soul wavelength reappeared as well, making it possible to read him. Whatever happened had only been temporary, but what if it was not the next time? Had this been some sort of soul protect? No, for that there had to be a witch. Grabbing him by the arm and pulling him up to his feet, both of us almost fell again. I wrapped one of his arms around my shoulders to keep him steady.

"I'm fine you know. The landing wasn't that hard."

"We both know this isn't about your fall."

"So, no more skating huh?"

"You can't run away from this, we both know that."

He sighed, soon followed by a weak smirk, nothing like the manic one he showed earlier. "I know, but it was worth a try."

I lead us to the nearest bench where we took off the rollerblades, then headed towards the school infirmary on nothing but socks as we left our shoes at home after buying the death traps on wheels. Good thing that it was not cold today.

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"Hmm, interesting… It seems that your hand has healed in a matter of minutes." Stein stated as he examined Souls hand. "That is the fastest I've seen you heal." The professor moved closer to measure his blood pressure, then checking for a fever as well as asking some fairly simple questions like "where do you live?" and "What's your name?" just to make sure that he was out of any possible trance he could have been in. Last thing to do now was to check his eyes. I watched as Stein took off the sunglasses, leaving Soul's eyes exposed to the light. At first, he only narrowed his eyes, but within a few seconds, he had to cover them with his hands. What happened then was unfair. Stein removed Soul's hands, forced an eye open and shone a light into it, making his eye water. Thanks to that, my partner started to see spots and gained a migraine. He refused to go through any more tests until his vision was back to normal. He allowed himself to lie down for a few minutes.

"Eyes still light sensitive." Stein wrote down the information he had gained before turning towards me. "You told me that he had an episode earlier after you temporarily lost his soul wavelength. Care to explain further?"

"Well, I don't know what to tell, there was this, force, it felt like we were pulled apart, physically as well, it felt like being pushed away from each other. After that, he started to act strange, a higher level of manic than earlier. He snapped out of it rather fast though."

He continued to write things down as I tried to explain, but by the time I got to the point where he tried to bite me, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the boy in question started to tremble again, a nosebleed soon following. I stood up from the chair I was sitting on and walked over, watching as he placed a hand on his chest with a pained groan.

"The scar, it hurts," was all he managed to say before he went into his second seizure.

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 **Thank you all for the reviews, faves and follows! They keep me motivated. The exams will be over soon, then hopefully I will have more time to make longer chapters. Reviews are highly** **appreciated.**


	5. Suppressing the symptoms

**Dear readers, exams are now over for me, which means that I can focus more on writing until the end of summer. Seeing that there were no reviews for the last chapter, I would appreciate that you left one for this one. Reviews keep writers motivated, and it helps lift their spirit. That and reading your thoughts helps to shape the story.**

 **I would also like to promote a Soul Eater one shot, which I shared not too long ago called "Regret". It is packed with humor, drunk teens and accidental romance.**

 **I do not own Soul Eater.**

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 **"Demons in his head, drugs in his veins, madness in his mind, love in his soul, storm in his heart."**

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Sudden overpowering fright hit me like a rock to the chest as I found myself looking around frantically, before grabbing his hand to squeeze it tightly. It was happening again, he was having a fit out of nowhere and I had no idea how to deal with it. His face was covered in sweat within seconds, and his nose started to bleed again. What was Stein thinking? How could he have sent Soul home when he clearly was not well enough? I too felt guilty about all this. I should have known better than to agree on going outside when he only just recovered from the first seizure.

Before I could state my point, Stein came out of nowhere and stabbed Soul in the arm with an auto-injector. I watched in complete shock as he pulled it back out, a wicked smile on his face as if he had planned this all along. Within a minute, Soul's body stopped convulsing, and he fell into a peaceful slumber.

"There, it seems to have worked quite well." Stein spoke, unaware that I was staring at him in utter disbelief. What had he just injected?

"I am sure you are curious as to what I did to your partner. I injected a modified anticonvulsant, one I have been working on for quite some time." He sat down on his chair and started to look through papers. "I have been studying the black blood, hoping to find a cure against it, yet all I have been able to come up with so far, is a drug that can suppress the effects for a short amount of time."

He turned to look at me, then handed me a small paper. "This is a guide of how and when to use it. So far he seems to get these fits whenever he is exposed to bright light. I would like you to try out other things as well, make him do a couple of tests throughout the day, and if he is triggered in any way, you will report back to me. As long as he is under the influence of the drug, he should not be sensitive to light. You know it stops working when he is avoiding the light again."

The professor wrote something down and handed me yet another paper. "These are some of the things I would like you to try out, but only do so when the drug has left his system, otherwise it may not have any effect on him. Do not, and I repeat, do not try to resonance with him if he is not under influence of anticonvulsants. This could lead to a sudden spike of black blood cells and uncontrollable madness, so I highly vote against it."

I scratched the back of my head as I read the papers I had been given. It all felt surreal, the feeling of being trapped in a bad dream and unable to wake up. He had to take a certain dose throughout the day, and if he refused, then I had to force him to take it. Of all the things I imagined would happen to us throughout our partnership, this took the top spot.

I then proceeded to read the other paper, surprised to find even the simplest of things. It had things like exercising, watching TV, getting hurt, eating, sleeping, and more. I was supposed to write down anything that I found strange or different about him. Since when had I become his personal nurse? Furthermore, I did not feel comfortable spying on him. Surely, I did not have to note down every little detail, and I did not have to watch him all day every day. I just had to stay alert and wary, and make sure he took the medicine until Stein found a way to solve this mess.

If Soul stayed out of trouble and somehow learned to control the blood, then things might go back to normal. We would not have to worry about him going insane.

A witch created the weapon gene. The very reason for Soul and the others to be able to transform was due to having the mutated gene. A witch created the black blood as well, the blood that affected weapons to such a degree that they were at risk of losing themselves, and that witch had been Medusa. Everything he was going through was thanks to her. She experimented on her own child, and then used them to spread the disease. That was all I could use as a reference to it. It was like a disease that manifested in the blood, making you completely bonkers and unable to control your actions.

I stayed by his side as he continued to sleep. After half an hour, I decided to read a bit. Tsubaki brought me the homework we missed from skipping school, and knowing that today's test had been cancelled, I decided to read up to be ready to take it the day after. It was not that difficult, yet it was hard to focus when my thoughts were somewhere else completely.

We could still fight. Soul was granted permission to turn into his weapon form, and even resonance was allowed, as long as we agreed to the terms.

I somehow made my way through the first few pages, one paper worth of notes scribbled down when I heard a faint groan followed by movement. He was waking up. I let go of the book as well as paper and pen to grab his hand. I squeezed, and this time he squeezed back. He was okay.

I watched as he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at me with a faint, tired smile.

"Stop worrying me, idiot. I'll end up having a heart attack." That was all I managed to say before he suddenly sat up and pulled me into a tight hug. I could feel his clammy head lean against my shoulder, his hot breath meeting bare skin, and without a second of hesitation, I hugged him back.

"I'm sorry Maka, I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around. No matter what happens, I'll make sure that you won't get hurt because of me. I will keep you out of harm's way, and I will do so till the day I die."


End file.
